Trigger lock

ABSTRACT

A system and method for locking a trigger lock onto a firearm is presented. The trigger lock includes a front assembly, a rear assembly and a lock mechanism. The lock mechanism locks the front assembly and the rear assembly together on a firearm. Key pads on the front assembly are used to enter an entered combination. Lock logic determines if the entered combination is the same as an original stored combination and unlocks the lock mechanism when the entered combination is the same as the original stored combination. A security device in the trigger lock allows it to be detected from a location the trigger lock and firearm that it is attached to cannot visibly be seen.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The current invention relates generally to apparatus, systems andmethods for protecting possessions. More particularly, the apparatus,systems and methods relate to locking up guns for safety. Specifically,the apparatus, systems and methods provide for locking a trigger of agun using a key-less lock.

2. Description of Related Art

Society is experiencing an increase in criminal activity againstindividuals. This has spurred many individuals to keep firearms in theirhomes for personal protection. While a firearm, by itself, is notdangerous, when loaded there is a potential for accidental discharge.However, an unloaded weapon proves to be of little help when facing anattacker or intruder. Therefore, keeping home firearms loaded is thetrend, despite the potential for accidents.

The increasing trend of keeping loaded firearms at home has resulted inan observed increase in the number of accidental weapon firings.Children playing with a weapon or adults who are unaware of the loadedcondition of the firearms frequently cause these accidents. Thus, thereis a need for devices that enhance the safety of loaded firearms andhelp reduce the frequency of accidental discharges. Moreover, currenttrends in legal liability are indicating an increased burden upon thosewho supply firearms to provide safer weapons.

One device which helps solve these and other problems, relatesspecifically to firearms with a trigger and/or trigger guard. Typically,the trigger and trigger guard of the firearm are mounted beneath thebarrel and firing mechanism. Almost all firearms are currently providedwith some form of safety mechanism which, when activated, is designed toprevent accidental or unwanted discharge of the firearm as it is carriedor handled. These safety mechanisms may comprise a safety notch in thehammer that is engaged by the sear (or some equivalent element) of thetrigger when the hammer is in its safe position (out of contact with thefiring pin), or it may comprise a separate member that can be placedbetween the hammer and the frame to prevent the hammer from striking thefiring pin. Also, there are a variety of separate attachable safetymechanisms such as locking mechanisms that frequently cover the triggerarea to prevent access to the trigger by a finger. While the abovedevices address some of the problems of firearm safety, what is neededis an improved firearm safety device.

SUMMARY

The preferred embodiment of the invention includes a trigger lock thatcan be locked onto a firearm to prevent its unauthorized use. Thetrigger lock includes a front assembly, a rear assembly and a lockmechanism. The lock mechanism locks the front assembly and the rearassembly together on the firearm. Key pads on the front assembly areused to enter an entered combination. Lock logic determines if theentered combination is the same as an original stored combination andunlocks the lock mechanism when the entered combination is the same asthe original stored combination.

Another configuration of the preferred embodiment is a method of lockingand unlocking a firearm. A locking device is locked onto the firearm toprevent unauthorized use of the firearm. The locking device may besimilar to the trigger lock described below. A combination is enteredthrough a keypad located on the locking device to unlock the lockingdevice. The keypad can be similar to the key pads described below. Thelocking device is then removed from the firearm.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

One or more preferred embodiments that illustrate the best mode(s) areset forth in the drawings and in the following description. The appendedclaims particularly and distinctly point out and set forth theinvention.

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of the specification, illustrate various example methods, and otherexample embodiments of various aspects of the invention. It will beappreciated that the illustrated element boundaries (e.g., boxes, groupsof boxes, or other shapes) in the figures represent one example of theboundaries. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that insome examples one element may be designed as multiple elements or thatmultiple elements may be designed as one element. In some examples, anelement shown as an internal component of another element may beimplemented as an external component and vice versa. Furthermore,elements may not be drawn to scale.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example side view a preferred embodiment of atrigger lock locked onto a handgun.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example front view a preferred embodiment of thetrigger lock locked onto a handgun.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example perspective view the preferred embodimentof a trigger lock.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example exploded perspective view the preferredembodiment of a trigger lock.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example perspective view of the back sidepreferred embodiment of a front lock assembly.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example view of the preferred embodiment of atrigger lock on a firearm in a vehicle and being detected by a scanningdevice.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of a method for.

Similar numbers refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates the preferred embodiment of a trigger lock 1 used tolock the trigger of a firearm so that it cannot be fired. The componentsand the structure of the trigger lock 1 are first described before theuse and functionality of the trigger lock 1 is later described. Thetrigger lock 1 includes two components: a front lock assembly 3 and arear receptacle assembly 5. As describe further below the front lockassembly 3 generally contains the mechanism with moving parts that lockand unlock the front assembly 3 with the back receptacle assembly 5. Asbest illustrated in FIGS. 1-4, the front lock assembly 3 and the rearlock receptacle assembly 5 are brought together from opposite sides of atrigger 47 of a gun 46 and then locked together around the trigger 47and the trigger guard 45 of the gun 46 so that the trigger cannot beoperated.

The trigger lock 1 has a security device 70 (FIG. 4) that allows it tobe detected by law enforcement or other personnel. The security device70 can be, for example, an Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) tag ofthe kind used to prevent shop-lifting. Including an EAS type of tagwithin the trigger lock 1 would allow law enforcement a way ofdetermining a firearm is present. For example, during a traffic stop alaw enforcement officer can generate a signal with handheld device 102(FIG. 6) that energizes the EAS tag and then detects its presence andcan indicate that presence to the officer. Alternatively a radiofrequency identification device (RFID) can be included in the triggerlock. That same police officer can now use an RFID reading device towirelessly read information from the RFID such as the type of firearm,who owns that firearm, etc. again before visually locating the firearm.Again the security device 70 can be any device as understood by those ofordinary skill in the art to allow authorized personnel to detect thepresence of the trigger lock 1 an a gun it is likely attached to ensuretheir safety as well as the safety of others.

The rear receptacle assembly 5, in the preferred embodiment, is formedwith nonmoving parts. The front lock assembly 3 is formed with a fronthousing 7 and a front contact pad 9 and the rear receptacle assembly 5is formed with a rear housing 11 and a rear contact pad 13. The fronthousing 7 and rear housing 11 can be formed with any rigid material suchas metal or hard plastic that is hard to break and/or cut when thetrigger lock 1 is attached to a firearm. The front contact pad 9 and thea rear contact pad 13 are preferably formed out of a stiff rubber orother material so that when the trigger lock 1 is attached to a firearm,these pads 9, 13 are what primarily makes contract with the firearm sothat the firearm is not scratched or damaged by the trigger lock 1.

In the preferred embodiment, the front lock assembly 3 is somewhat anelongated oval shape when viewed from its front surface 15. It has afront 16, a back 18, a top end 17, a bottom end 19, a left end 21 and aright end 23. The top end 17 and bottom end 19 are spaced closertogether than the left end 21 and the right end 23. A generally flatbeveled wall 25 is sloped at an angle between the front surface 15 andthe top end 17 as illustrated. A display 27 that may be a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD) or another type of display is located in the beveled wall25. Numeric keypads 29A-E are located in a wall forming the frontsurface 15. In the preferred embodiment, each key 29A-E can be used toselected one of two numerical digits but in other embodiment keys can beprovided that select a single numerical digit or more than two numericaldigits.

The front lock assembly 3 also includes a battery housing 31 that isshaped to hold a battery 33. In the preferred embodiment, the battery 33is a circular watch type of battery but in other embodiments it can beanother type of battery or can include more than one battery. Ideally,the battery housing 31 is easy to install and remove from the fronthousing in the two directions of arrow A (FIG. 4). As discussed furtherbelow, this provides a second layer of security because the trigger lock1 cannot be opened without power provided by the battery 33.

As best seen in FIG. 5 the front contact pad 9 can be formed with twoflanges 43A-B that extend outward from a back side 18 of the front lockassembly 3. These flanges 43A-B are preferably shaped so that a triggerguard 45 of a gun 46 is located between the two flanges 43A-B when thetrigger lock 1 is locked onto the gun 46. This can also assure that thatthe trigger lock 1 is properly positioned on the gun 46 when it islocked in place. One or more protrusions 49 can also extent outward fromthe front contact pad 9. These protrusions 49 can be at least partiallydepressible and can be biased outward from the front lock assembly 3with springs or other biasing devices. These protrusions 49 can furtherensure that the trigger lock 1 is properly positioned around the trigger47 of a gun 46 and/or make it more difficult to remove the trigger lock1 from a gun 46 when it is locked onto the gun 46.

In the preferred embodiment, a lock mechanism 35 is located on the frontlock assembly 3 for locking the front lock portion to the receptacleassembly 5. In the preferred embodiment, a key feature of the lockmechanism 35 is a lock post 37 extending outward from the back side 18of the front lock assembly 3. The lock post 37 is a round cylinder witha portion of its side removed to create an opening 38. An elongated lockactuator 39 is located in the lock post 37. The lock actuator 39 isgenerally cylindrical in shape. A series of teeth/beveled edges 40 areformed in part of the lock actuator 39. These teeth/beveled edges 40 arecomplementary to teeth/beveled edges formed in the rear receptacleassembly discussed below and the interaction of these two sets ofteeth/beveled edges are what locks the front lock assembly 3 to the rearreceptacle assembly 5.

The front lock assembly 3 houses a lock logic 41 that implements some ofthe functionally locking and unlocking the front lock assembly 3 to therear receptacle assembly 5. The actions of the lock logic 41 will bedescribed in detail below when discussing the functionality of thetrigger lock 1. “Logic”, as used herein, includes but is not limited tohardware, firmware, software and/or combinations of each to perform afunction(s) or an action(s), and/or to cause a function or action fromanother logic, method, and/or system. For example, based on a desiredapplication or needs, logic may include a processor such as a softwarecontrolled microprocessor, discrete logic, an application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC), a programmed logic device, a memory devicecontaining instructions, or the like. Logic may include one or moregates, combinations of gates, or other circuit components. Logic mayalso be fully embodied as software. Where multiple logics are described,it may be possible to incorporate the multiple logics into one physicallogic. Similarly, where a single logic is described, it may be possibleto distribute that single logic between multiple physical logics.

As best seen in FIG. 4, the rear receptacle assembly 5 includes aprotruding receptacle structure 55. The receptacle structure 55 isgenerally cylindrical in shape but may have a rounded end 57. Thereceptacle structure 55 forms an elongated chamber 59 for receiving thelock post 37 of the front lock structure 3. A lock bar 61 is locatedinside the elongated chamber 59. A series of teeth/beveled edges 63 arelocked on the lock bar 61 and are complementary to the teeth/bevelededges 40 on the lock post 37.

As best seen in FIG. 4, the rear receptacle assembly 5 includes twoflanges/tabs 51A-B extending upward from the rear contact pad 13.Similar to the flanges 43A-B on the front contact pad 9 of the frontlock assembly, these flanges 51A-B are preferably shaped so that atrigger guard 45 of a gun 46 is located between the two flanges 51A-Bwhen the trigger lock 1 is locked onto the gun 46. An array ofprotrusions 53 that can be cone shaped can also extent outward from therear contact pad 11 so that this pad can securely grip the trigger guard45 and trigger 47 of the gun 46 when the trigger lock 1 is locked ontothe gun 46.

Having described the components and the structure of the trigger lock 1,it use and operation will now be described. Initially, the trigger lock1 is in an unlocked state with the front lock assembly 3 removed fromthe rear receptacle assembly 5. To lock the trigger lock 1 on a firearm,the rear receptacle assembly 5 is placed on one side of a trigger 47 anda trigger guard 45 of a firearm 46 as best seen in FIGS. 1-2.Preferably, flanges 43A-B on the back side 51 of the rear receptacleassembly 5 are placed on each side of the trigger guard 45 so that theyaid as a guild ensuring the proper placement of the rear receptacleassembly 5. Next, the front receptacle assembly 3 is aligned with therear lock assembly 5 so that the lock post 37 of the front lock assembly3 can be inserted into the receptacle structure 55 of the rearreceptacle assembly 5. Notice that due to the geometry of the lock post37 and the receptacle structure 55, there is only correct orientationthat allows the rear receptacle 5 to be connected to the front lockassembly 3. Of course, the front lock assembly 3 can also be firstplaced on the gun 46 and then the rear receptacle assembly 5 can bealigned with it and attached to the front lock assembly 3.Alternatively, the front lock assembly 3 and the rear receptacleassembly 5 can be placed on the gun 46 at more or less the same time.The flanges 43A-B of the front lock assembly 3 can aid in placing thefront lock assembly 3 onto the trigger guard 45.

In the preferred embodiment when the trigger lock 1 is in the unlockedposition, the lock actuator 39 will have been rotated by the lockmechanism 35 under control of the lock logic 41 so that theteeth/beveled edges 40 are rotated behind the lock post 37 away from theopening 38 and are not visible. This allows the lock post 37 to be slidinto the receptacle structure 55 of the rear receptacle structure 5.When the front lock assembly 3 and the rear receptacle assembly 5 areproperly positioned, the lock logic 41 can lock them together byrotating the teeth/beveled edges 40 behind the lock post 37 into theopening 38 so that they align with the teeth/beveled edges 63 of thereceptacle structure 55. The interlocking of both of these sets ofteeth/beveled edges locks the trigger lock 1 together so that it cannoteasily be removed. In one configuration, the lock logic 41 can rotatethe lock actuator 39 and its teeth/beveled edges 40 using an electricmotor driven with power from battery 33. In another configuration, thelock logic 41 can unlock tumblers in the locking mechanism 35 to allow auser to rotate a “thumb wheel” that allows for the manual rotation ofthe lock actuator 39 and its teeth/beveled edges 40 to lock (or unlock)the lock mechanism.

A user desiring to lock the preferred embodiment of the trigger lock 1onto a firearm can indicate this to the lock logic 41 in one of avariety of ways. For example, a user can press a “lock” button 65 andthe lock logic 41 will detected that the lock button 65 has been pressedand then rotate the lock post 37 to its locked position. In anotherconfiguration, a user could depress one (or more) of the numeric keypads 29A-E for a long enough period of time. For example, if one of thekey pads 29A-E is depressed more than five seconds, a timer in the locklogic 41 can detect this and rotate the lock post 37 to its lockedposition.

The lock mechanism 35 has been describe in detail regarding its lockpost and locking teeth/beveled edges 40 and how these componentsinteract with the teeth/beveled edges 63 of the lock bar 61 of the rearreceptacle assembly 5. However, the trigger lock 1 with key pads 29A-Ecan also be locked in other ways as understood by those of ordinaryskill in the art. Many different mechanical, non-mechanical and/ormagnetic locking mechanisms could be used in place of the example lockmechanism 35 describe and illustrated herein.

In the preferred embodiment, the trigger lock 1 is manufactured with asecure combination stored in an internal memory of the lock logic 41.For example, this can be a five-digit value or it can be shorter orlonger than five digits. When the trigger lock 1 is locked to a firearmthis combination can be entered through the numeric key pads 29A-E.Pressing a key pad 29A-E once would select an odd number associated witha corresponding key pad 29A-E and pressing a key pad 29A-E twiceback-to-back would select an even number associated with thatcorresponding key pad 29A-E. As the combination is being entered, thelock logic 41 can cause what is being entered to display on the display27 so that a user entering the number can be sure they are entering whatthey intend. If the lock logic 41 determines that a correct combinationof numbers was entered it can automatically unlock the trigger lock 1immediately at that time. Alternatively, in other configurations, thelock logic 41 would not unlock the trigger lock 1 until an “unlockbutton” is depressed indicating the combination is complete and thetrigger lock 1 should be unlocked. Of course, the preferred embodimenthas been discussed with reference to numeric numbers but alphabetic orother symbols can be used to create a combination in otherconfigurations of the preferred embodiment.

In another configuration of the preferred embodiment, the trigger lock 1includes a “PROG” (program) button 66. This button can be used toperform a variety of actions as understood by those of ordinary skill inthis art. For example, a user can press the program button 66 toindicate to the lock logic 41 that a new combination of numbers is to beentered. When the lock logic 41 detects that the program button 66 hasbeen pressed it can begin to display numbers selected on the key pads29A-E on the display 27 as well as storing them in a memory location inthe lock logic 41. When the program button 66 is pressed a second timethis indicates that the new combination has been completely entered andthat now this combination can be used to unlock the trigger guard 1. Insome embodiments, when the program button is pressed a second time, thelock logic 41 can remove the new combination from the display 27 as wellas a prior combination from the memory so that now only the newcombination can be used to unlock the trigger lock 1. Preferably thememory for storing combination(s) is non-volatile so that combination(s)used to open the trigger lock 1 are not lost when the battery 33 isremoved.

The trigger lock 1 can have other useful features and components. Forexample, when the battery 31 is removed the trigger lock 1 the triggerlock 1 will stay in the locked state so that it cannot be removed from afirearm without destruction. This provides another layer of securitybecause to unlock the trigger lock 1 one needs (1) the correct batteryand (2) the correct numerical combination.

Example methods may be better appreciated with reference to flowdiagrams. While for purposes of simplicity of explanation, theillustrated methodologies are shown and described as a series of blocks,it is to be appreciated that the methodologies are not limited by theorder of the blocks, as some blocks can occur in different orders and/orconcurrently with other blocks from that shown and described. Moreover,less than all the illustrated blocks may be required to implement anexample methodology. Blocks may be combined or separated into multiplecomponents. Furthermore, additional and/or alternative methodologies canemploy additional, not illustrated blocks.

FIG. 9 illustrates a method 900 of locking and unlocking a firearm. Alocking device is locked onto the firearm, at 902, to preventunauthorized use of the firearm. The locking device may be similar tothe trigger lock described above. A combination is entered through akeypad located on the locking device to unlock the locking device, at904. The keypad can be similar to the key pads described above. Thelocking device is removed from the firearm, at 906.

In the foregoing description, certain terms have been used for brevity,clearness, and understanding. No unnecessary limitations are to beimplied therefrom beyond the requirement of the prior art because suchterms are used for descriptive purposes and are intended to be broadlyconstrued. Therefore, the invention is not limited to the specificdetails, the representative embodiments, and illustrative examples shownand described. Thus, this application is intended to embracealterations, modifications, and variations that fall within the scope ofthe appended claims.

Moreover, the description and illustration of the invention is anexample and the invention is not limited to the exact details shown ordescribed. References to “the preferred embodiment”, “an embodiment”,“one example”, “an example”, and so on, indicate that the embodiment(s)or example(s) so described may include a particular feature, structure,characteristic, property, element, or limitation, but that not everyembodiment or example necessarily includes that particular feature,structure, characteristic, property, element or limitation. Furthermore,repeated use of the phrase “in the preferred embodiment” does notnecessarily refer to the same embodiment, though it may.

What is claimed is:
 1. A trigger lock for preventing unauthorized use ofa firearm comprising: a front assembly; a rear assembly; a lockmechanism configured to lock the front assembly and the rear assemblytogether on a firearm; and an energizable security device on either oneof the front and rear assembly configured to be energized and detectedby a separate remote detection device.
 2. The trigger lock of claim 1further comprising: a plurality of key pads on the front assemblyconfigured for entering an entered combination; lock logic including oneor more of a processor, microprocessor, integrated circuit, orcircuitry, having an internal memory, alone or in combination withsoftware and firmware configured to determine if the entered combinationis the same as an original stored combination in the trigger lock andconfigured to unlock the lock mechanism when the entered combination isthe same as the original stored combination.
 3. The trigger lock ofclaim 2 wherein the plurality of key pads are numerical key pads and theoriginal stored combination is an original numerical combination.
 4. Thetrigger lock of claim 2 further comprising: a battery housing repeatablyattachable to and removable from the front assembly; and a battery toprovide power to the lock logic wherein the battery is housed in thebattery housing.
 5. The trigger lock of claim 4 wherein the lock logicwill not operate and the lock mechanism will not unlock the frontassembly from the rear assembly, when the battery housing is removedfrom the front assembly so that the trigger lock remains locked.
 6. Thetrigger lock of claim 1 wherein the lock mechanism further comprises: arotating actuator configured to rotate to lock the front assembly to therear assembly.
 7. The trigger lock of claim 2 further comprising: a lockbutton, wherein the lock logic is configured to cause the lock mechanismto lock the front assembly and the rear assembly together upon detectinga depression of the lock button.
 8. The trigger lock of claim 1 furthercomprising: one or more guide flanges on trigger lock configured toguide how the trigger lock is placed on the firearm.
 9. The trigger lockof claim 1 wherein the lock mechanism is shaped so that the frontassembly and the rear assembly can only be locked together in oneorientation.
 10. The trigger lock of claim 1 wherein the lock mechanismfurther comprises: an elongated lock post and wherein the rear assemblyfurther comprises: a chamber for receiving the elongated post.
 11. Thetrigger lock of claim 10 wherein the lock mechanism is configured whenthe lock post is in the chamber to lock the front assembly to the rearassembly by rotating the lock post.
 12. The trigger lock of claim 10 thelock post further comprises: post locking teeth; and wherein the chamberfurther comprises: chamber locking teeth, wherein the lock mechanismlocks the front assembly to the rear assembly when the post lockingteeth are adjacent the chamber locking teeth.
 13. The trigger lock ofclaim 2 further comprising: a program button, wherein the lock logic isconfigured to program a new lock combination into the lock logic upondetecting the program button has been depressed.
 14. The trigger lock ofclaim 2 wherein the lock logic is configured to erase the originalstored combination when new lock combination is programed into a memoryin the lock logic.
 15. The trigger lock of claim 14 wherein the securitydevice is a security tag and the security tag is at least one of thegroup of: an electronic article surveillance (EAS) device and a radiofrequency identification device (RFID).
 16. The trigger lock of claim 1wherein the front assembly further comprises: a non-rigid front contactpad to make contact with the firearm to prevent damage to the firearm.17. The trigger lock of claim 1 wherein the trigger lock lacks aphysical key.
 18. A method of locking and unlocking a firearmcomprising: locking a locking device onto the firearm to preventunauthorized use of the firearm; entering a combination through a keypadlocated on the locking device to unlock the locking device; and removingthe locking device from the firearm.
 19. The method of locking andunlocking a firearm comprising: detecting the presence of the lockingdevice remote with a detection device located at a location where it isnot possible to visibly see the locking device.
 20. The method oflocking and unlocking a firearm comprising: installing battery in thelocking device, where the locking device cannot be unlocked without thebattery in the locking device.
 21. The trigger lock of claim 1 whereinthe energizable security device is nonremovably attached within the rearassembly.
 22. The trigger lock of claim 1, in combination with a firearmand a remote detector, the combination comprising: an indicator to alerta remote operator, prior to the remote operator visually locating thefirearm, the indicator alerting the remote operator of one of thefollowing: presence of the firearm, type of the firearm, and owner ofthe firearm.
 23. The trigger lock of claim 1 wherein the security devicedoes not communicate with the lock mechanism and cannot affect operationof the lock mechanism.
 24. The trigger lock of claim 1, furthercomprising: a beveled wall sloped between a front surface and a top endon the front assembly; and a display located in the beveled wallconfigured to display information relating to the trigger lock thereon.25. The trigger lock of claim 24, further comprising a plurality of keypads entirely below the display operatively coupled with the lockmechanism.
 26. The trigger lock of claim 16, further comprising aplurality of depressible protrusions extending outward from thenon-rigid front contact pad to ensure the trigger lock is properlyposition around a trigger on the firearm.